Moderate Exercise As Easy As Walking 100 Steps Per Minute

You’ve been told by your doctor to do 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each day for at least five days a week. You were told this would help your tendency towards weight gain, improve your blood pressure, and reduce your risk of heart disease. But what is moderate intensity exercise?

By definition an activity is defined as moderate-intensity exercise if the heart rate during the activity reaches 60 to 70 per cent of the maximum rate. [See our article on Resting and Target Heart Rate]

A recent study by researchers at the San Diego State University shows that moderate exercise can be as easy as walking 100 steps per minute.

In the study, Simon Marshall and his colleagues monitored 58 women and 39 men walking on a treadmill at different speeds. They checked the participants oxygen uptake and heart rates during the exercise. The researchers found moderate-intensity exercise was achieved by women at counts between 91 and 115 steps per minute and by men at 92 to 102 steps per minute.

Moderate exercise can be as easy as walking 100 steps per minute. Back to the 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day – 3,000 steps in 30 minutes will achieve that goal. Using a pedometer to help with the counting can make that even easier.